Sopa de Pescado a la Donostiarra

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large stockpot, 5 to 6 litres
• •Heavy soup pot or Dutch oven
• •Fine sieve
• •Blender or immersion blender
• •Shellfish brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the stock

   Rinse the fish heads and bones under cold water. Put them in a large pot with the shrimp shells, cold water, leek, onion, carrot, and bay leaf. Bring slowly to a bare simmer, skim the foam, and cook gently for 25 minutes. Do not boil it hard; fish bones give what they have quickly, then turn bitter.

   Ask the fishmonger for heads and bones from white fish or rockfish. Monkfish head is especially good here, but hake bones and shrimp shells make a fine stock far from the Basque coast.
2. 2

   Strain it well

   Strain the stock through a fine sieve, pressing lightly on the solids but not crushing them into paste. You should have about 1.5 litres. If you have more, reduce it gently for a few minutes. If you have less, add a little water. Keep it warm.

3. 3

   Cook the sofrito

   Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot. Add the chopped onion, leek, carrot, and a pinch of salt, then cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft, dark gold, and sweet. This slow sofrito is the floor of the soup. Rush it and the whole pot tastes thinner.

4. 4

   Add tomato and bread

   Stir in the garlic for 1 minute, then add the grated tomato and cook until the liquid is gone and the oil shows at the edges, about 8 minutes. Add the choricero pepper pulp, or the pimentón off the heat so it does not scorch. Stir in the toasted sopako bread and the wine, scraping the bottom of the pot.

5. 5

   Simmer and blend

   Pour in the warm fish stock, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook for 20 minutes, until the bread has softened and thickened the soup. Blend until smooth, then pass through a sieve if you want the Donostiarra texture especially fine. Taste for salt only now, because the shellfish will bring its own.

6. 6

   Finish the seafood

   Return the soup to the pot and keep it at a gentle simmer. Add the clams and mussels, cover, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, removing them as they open. Discard any that stay closed. Add the hake and peeled shrimp, then cook 3 minutes more, just until the fish turns opaque and flakes at the edge.

7. 7

   Serve at once

   Return the opened shellfish to the pot or divide them among bowls. Ladle over the thick red-gold soup with pieces of hake and shrimp in each serving. Finish with chopped parsley and a thin thread of olive oil if you like. Serve with bread for the bowl, because leaving that last spoonful behind would be poor judgement.

Chef Tips

• •Use the best bones you can get. Hake, monkfish, gurnard, red mullet, or mixed rockfish all belong here. Oily fish like salmon or mackerel are too strong and make the stock muddy.
• •Pan sopako is dense bread made for soup. If you can't find it, use stale country bread toasted dark and dry. Soft sandwich bread turns gluey, and that is not the texture you want.
• •Clams and mussels go in at the end. Once they open, they're done. Keep cooking them and they tighten up, and then the soup has paid good money for rubber.
• •A spoon of choricero pepper pulp is very Basque in feeling, sweet and earthy. If you don't have it, use sweet pimentón, off the heat, and know the soup will be a little smokier and less rounded.
• •Txakoli is right if you have it, but a dry white wine is fine. Use one you would drink with fish, not a sweet one.

Advance Preparation

• •The fish stock can be made one day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Chill it quickly and skim any fat from the top before using.
• •The soup base can be cooked through the blending step up to one day ahead. Reheat gently, then add the clams, mussels, hake, and shrimp just before serving.
• •Scrub the shellfish a few hours ahead and keep them cold under a damp cloth, not submerged in fresh water.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 535g)